Sunday Mornings
by Marge Writes Fanfiction
Summary: Violet is no stranger to busy shifts at the Happy Platter, but this time, she takes the fall.


Sunday mornings were the busiest at the Happy Platter. There were three churches near the diner and they all held mass three times a day. After the services, churchgoers were too lazy to make their own brunch. Since most of them were families, they wanted an affordable family friendly place to eat at. The Platter was a perfect choice.

Violet had been working there for five months. The job added more stress to her high school and superhero careers. The only reason she accepted the job in the first place was to be able to spend more time with Tony outside of school. With how occupied they were, they were lucky if they could go out on one date each month. Violet would often come home stressed and infuriated because of this.

"Waitressing is harder than fighting crime." She once told her dad with a sigh.

This particular time was a bit more stressful because it was the point in her life where she was filling out college applications non-stop.

'You can't put all your eggs in one basket.' her dad would press. Both parents were pressuring her to fill out applications to schools she had absolutely no interest in, adding to the stress. Violet wanted to go to a good school to learn how to become a photographer and her parents kept recommending her schools with mediocre programs.

Then of course, teachers piled up everyone's homework, made exams more frequent and difficult, and expected students to study for several hours outside of school. How they could expect them to do it all was beyond her.

The first services started at seven, which is when the Rydingers expected Violet to clock in. This one day in particular, Violet refused to get out of bed after her alarm clocks first warning, telling herself, 'I've got time'. She realized about five minutes before Tony was supposed to pick her up that she in fact didn't have time.

Bursting out of bed, she brushed her hair and buttoned up her dress. There was no time to put on makeup, which she did mainly because she always got bigger tips. All she had time to do was wipe the crust out of her eyelashes.

She dashed down the stairs, took a banana from the fruit bowl, and consumed it in under a minute.

"Hey, Vi." Her father greeted as she came down the stairs. "I thought you were already gone?"

"No time, gotta go!" His daughter threw the peel in the garbage and ran outside right as Tonys car pulled up.

As expected, when the churches let out, the masses came in for brunch. Violet had been functioning as normal for the first couple of hours, though she had to pause a few times to yawn. Her boss allowed her to have anything to drink as long as she wasn't consuming it in front of customers, so she made herself a coffee and sipped it between runs.

As time passed though, more people came as less people left. Violet experienced this several times. As a waitress, she had several pet peeves about customers and that was one of them.

This lady wanted a western omelet. This gentleman wanted three eggs with a side of bacon and toast. Some other lady was arguing with her three-year-old over what she was going to order him. A moody pre-teen who was probably a closet atheist, angry once again that her parents dragged her to church when she could have slept in, snapped at Violet in protest that she would order nothing. They couldn't just drop their kid off at home first then drive over?

Violet would be mad, but she sympathized with this girl. There was nothing fun about getting up early on the weekend. Had to be worse for that girl though since her parents weren't paying her to overdress and fake-pray.

Her stomach had been gurgling since the beginning of her shift but Violet had been ignoring it. If she could get a break soon, maybe she could sneak a few fries out of the kitchen. With how chaotic it was though, she doubted Mrs. Rydinger would tell her to rest.

Her co-workers told her jokingly if she was a smoker, that she'd get several breaks. It was pretty cruddy she had to keep working while they could use cigarettes as an excuse to work less. A table for ten just came in? Sorry, I'm on my smoke break.

Come around ten forty-five, she began to see the diner spin like a carousel. That was when Violet knew she had to stop. Luckily, she was close enough to the kitchen when she realized what was about to happen.

All the chefs paid no mind as they were scrambling eggs and flipping pancakes as she sat down on a chair they had set there for employees filling paperwork. It seemed random that they had that small chair and table back there, but she would be thankful for it later.

'I'm just going to close my eyes for five minutes. They'll understand.'

She didn't see clearly once she woke up, but Violet heard voices. Someone was gently squeezing her hand and holding her cheek.

"Oh thank god," said a male voice, which she registered to be Tonys. "Vi." He shook her gently. "Violet, are you ok?"

When she came completely back to reality, Violet saw she was surrounded by what felt like half the diner staff, including Mrs. Rydinger.

'Oh, shit.'

"What happened?"

"You passed out, sweetie." she told her. "Guess you got overwhelmed." Not that she could blame her since every table was filled and more people were coming in and expecting to be seated right away.

"Oh." Violet blinked. When she attempted to stand up, Tony gently kept her down.

"Don't move yet." he said tenderly. An older waitress with artificially red hair, Debby, came by with a cold glass of water, which she handed to her.

"Hi, hon. You feeling alright?" Her voice was hardened from years of smoking.

Violet shrugged as she consumed some of the water. "I'm fine."

Her dad was right. The water at this place was refreshing.

"What did you eat this morning?" Mrs. Rydinger asked.

Now Violet felt like a moron because she couldn't lie and say she had a good breakfast, but telling them the truth would be alarming news.

She shook her head. "Just a banana."

As she feared, Mrs. Rydingers face showed signs of disapproval.

She walked over to the counter where all the prepared plates were and found an order of their Happy Breakfast, which consisted of three eggs any style, hash browns, bacon, sausage, and toast. They would have called it the Happy Meal but a chain restaurant had claimed the rights to that term.

"Hey, that's for the customer." Brutus protested. Brutus was the favorite amongst the chefs. They called him 'Big Brutus' because of his round figure and broad laughter.

"Make the customer another one." Mrs. Rydinger told him. "Vi passed out. She didn't eat this morning."

"Oh good lord." Brutus sighed and looked over at the corner of the kitchen where Violet was sitting. He knew that girl wasn't taking good care of herself with how damn thin she was.

Mrs. Rydinger came back with the plate of food like a servant bringing dinner to a king.

"I want you to eat as much as you can." she said. "Violet, if you told me earlier you didn't have much to eat this morning, I would have given you something."

Violet was just silent, knowing she'd have more to say. Mrs. Rydinger was a talker.

"I'd rather you come in a little late with a full stomach than on time with nothing."

What could Violet say without the risk of upsetting her boss, and hopefully, in the future, her mother-in-law? Mrs. Rydinger was a very sweet and caring woman with a nurturing aura, like Helen. Violet feared this woman would start to worry about her.

She started nibbling on the bacon, which was cooked a little too well for her liking.

"I'm sorry." Yeah, sorry she was too tired to get up on time and get a balanced breakfast before heading out the door.

"Just keep that in mind next time," she said, squeezing Violets shoulder.

"Do you want us to call your dad? Or maybe let me take you to the hospital?" Tony offered. Maybe letting her off early would be helpful.

Violet looked over at the clock hanging on the wall, which all the employees would look at like a deity they offered gifts to. She had about two more hours left. "I don't think that'll be necessary," she said. "I didn't hit my head so I don't think a visit to the doctor is in order. After I eat this, I should be ok."

His girlfriend was too proud to accept defeat. If Violet went home early, she would feel terrible about it for at least a week, so what else could she do but finish what she started?

"Are you sure?" Mrs. Rydinger questioned. "You're not going to get in trouble for leaving early, you know."

Violet shrugged as she bit into one of the links. "I know, but," she listened out at the customers overlapping conversations filling the restaurant. "I'd like to stay and keep working until the end of my shift if that's ok."

Her boss just nodded. "Of course. Take your time with that food and whenever you're ready, you can head back out there."

When the young couple was alone again, Tony planted a sweet kiss on her forehead.

"Please don't ever scare me like that again."

"I'm sorry." she just shrugged.

"No, Vi," Tony was trying to get her to look into his eyes. "When you didn't wake up after I first called you, I thought something really bad happened."

"But I'm fine."

"I know, but," Tony sighed. "I was freaking out."

Well, at least she didn't pass out on the floor or he'd have to call paramedics.

"I would be too if it were you instead of me." she assured him. "Rest assured, I'm still here, I'll be back to my old self in a bit, and until I leave for college, I have no plans to quit this job." If it meant she could spend more time with him, Violet was determined to stay. "I'll finish this plate and see you back out there, alright?"

If the plate weren't between them, Tony would have embraced her. He kissed her forehead again instead.

"I love you."

It wasn't the first time he said it, and it wouldn't be the last.

"I love you too."


End file.
